Clipped Video Of Owaisi's Speech from 2021 Revived, Shared With Communal Angle

Owaisi clarified that he did not make any hate speech, rather, addressed police officers and not a particular group.

Fact-Check: This video first went viral in 2021 and was shared with communal claims. 

(Source: Altered by The Quint) 

A small clip of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi’s speech is being shared on social media platforms.

What does Owaisi say?: He says: “Yogi will not always be the Chief Minister. Modi will not always be the Prime Minister. Us, Muslims, are silent because of the time. We will not forget your injustices. Allah with his power will destroy you. Things will change according to the time. Who will save you?”

What are the users saying?: Those sharing claimed that Owaisi delivered a speech of a communal nature.

Who shared it?: This post was shared by Richa Rajpoot, who is the head of social media for Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Uttar Pradesh youth wing.

An archive of the post can be found here

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot) 

(Archives of similar claims can be found here, here and here.)

This claim was first viral in 2021 and is being shared again. You can find those claims here and here.

Is this true?: Asaduddin Owaisi delivered a 45-minute speech at a meeting held in Kanpur in 2021. However, only a small portion of the speech was edited and shared in a post.

• During the speech, he alleged that an 80-year-old Muslim man was manhandled and humiliated at Kanpur's Rasulabad police station, directing criticism at Uttar Pradesh police.

• There, he asked who would protect UP Police once UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were not in power anymore.

How did we find out?: At first, we looked for the longer version of Owaisi's speech.

• With a relevant keyword search such as, "owaisi modi yogi nahi rahenge," we came across a Facebook live on AIMIM's page. It was broadcasted on 12 December 2021.

• Around 39:12 minutes of the speech, Owaisi alleged "I got the information that in the Rasulabad police station in Kanpur, an 80-year-old Mohammad Rafiq was harassed. His beard was pulled and he was urinated upon. This was done by SI Gajender Pal Singh."

• He goes on to ask if this was a sign of respect towards an elderly person. Owaisi remarked that if this were true, then he did not feel shame but pain that they saw the beard and thought of pulling it.

• He then said, "Why do you hate our beard?"

Around 40 minutes, Owaisi said, "I want to say this to the police people.."

• This is the portion in the viral video. The AIMIM leader said, “Yogi will not always be the Chief Minister. Modi will not always be the Prime Minister. Us, Muslims, are silent because of the time. We will not forget your injustices. Allah with his power will destroy you. Things will change according to the time. Who will save you?”

• The portion about the police people, who he was addressing the statement to has been cropped from the viral video.

The BJP also spoke against this speech of Owaisi and called it a "criminal and communal mindset," as reported by India TV in December 2021.

Owaisi responds to viral video in 2021: When the clip first went viral in 2021, Owaisi took to his official X page and clarified his statement.

• He wrote, "I did not incite violence or give threats. I talked about police atrocities," (sic.) and shared the full version of his speech.

• Owaisi mentioned that his edited clip went viral to distract the public from the 'Haridwar Genocidal Meet.'

Conclusion: Social media users are sharing an edited version of Owaisi's speech in 2021 with a false communal spin.

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